Cowl ventilator



Aug. 6, 1935. E. G. SIMPSON 2,310,568

COWL VENTILATOR- Filed March 8, 1954 '2 Sheet-Sheet 1 i m E -INVENTOR.

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ATTORNEYS.

6, 1935- E. G. SIMPSON I 2,010,568

COWL VENTILATOR Filed March a, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Y x mmpwm INVENTOR.'EMORYGL EMVJIMPJO'M ATTORNEYS t Patented Aug. "6, 1935 I a? cowl venilator; for automotivevehicleJJ. r

T i invention rel ;;Itis an object a, of thiscir vention produce"owlfiwentilator than highly [efficient and rwl imdeflect rairmuohvlargeramount of air into the bodyttor a given-size opening than'the -typ'e foowl' ventilatornow in-use which hasits; closure; hingfidwatxtheirear sothatnit opensnwith the fi lfound that in actual operation that with aclol i sure hinged to swing aboutthe forwardlateral edge: thattheamountrof air for, atgivenisize opening flowing into the vehicle'willbe approximately double. .This result is; due to the" fact Rio uthatthecirculation of-- air tends to be down wardly alonguthe conventional;angled iwindshield andthen forwardly along the cowl. tendj i army hasbeen ;observed and" notedjat; certain speed ranges or, thetestiautomobile. wThisxreff) insult also -due to the'fact thatwthe airpres- ,sures reacha maximum-rate point or area; close and pressureof,the airwill varyi withthe direc- .tion oi thewind and thespeed' ofthe car. i

,3 t It-is a further object of this invention to proaducet a cowlventilator that-will divide thetin flowing airinto; two streams so thatboththe driver and the: passenger in the front, seat; will 35 receivethe benefit of 1 the blast of air; that; flows in through the opening inIn the drawings: ,1 vy wa 3 Fig l; is a fragmentarylongitudinal sectiongthroughthe cowl ventilatorand windshield of an the; cowl;

l "0 aut met ehic eb dr 2 jsa section alonguthe line IQ- 2 of Fig-Q 1withthe closure partially opened. i i

a Fig,i3 is a section along the l ine 3% 3; of -Figa 1. s

i 4 5 i m rrise ie th o h th V45 1 losure and ba fl'learrangemeiitinopen position.

,r; e 5 5 w etener; Wi it in of thecirculating air currents intherareapin I sro xhopd pf an automobile; f

e is a view along The?1111156 6 aegis; F .77 isaside-eleizatipn'and lFig. 3 is atopfviewfshowing the air pressures hood oiflisan autoniobile;

'95??? i i i l I r a Application March-8 1934,-Seria[:Nol 'z 14,543 i lout in Figures 5 and 6, that the circulating air currentsptend to traveldownwardly along the in- .clined windshield and then forwardly along the"topiofrthe. cowl and thehood, and thesecond of which is, as brought outin Figures '1 and 8, that 1 positive air pressure which is greatestatthe junotlonlofsthe windshield: and the top portion of, the tome-nowhich gradually tapers ofi? along, the sidesforwardly of the windshieldabove the; cowl aandvhooduto form its own: stream lining} =.The-windshield= builds up its own naturalaero-dy- I u 1 namic .streamlining. .Hen'ce,:by locating the r to the -j-uncture of the windshieldand the cowl. q Itis, of course; appreciatedthat the circulation"windshield is inclined about fromthe vertical inches: from thembottomedge of, the windshield. The opening 3 is about three andone half inchesacross when measured. from its front to its rear edge; It is; of course,,appreciatedythat these the cowl should be adjacent; themaximum pres-.asure area within the forward flowing ,air "stream iiand still notbe soGIGS e1 touthe foot of the wind- 1 shieldithat; the opening will--the'closure 4 isyraised; a

The'closure "llvhasufixedto its under face the angulardependinglbaffleplate 6 having the closed endel? The closure'l pis' arrangedwto be swunga'bout'fits forwardedge and as used herein this m'eansJ'thatt-the"closure is pivotedabout an axis exten'dinglaterally-of the body andforwardly of th'e rear edge iso 'thatwhen op'enthe closure will i f thewindshield and ahovethe owl and.

in front of .thewindshield and above the cowlan'd ich as s ignor to aDetroih Mich a a there ,isshown a portion, of the cowlilloi a ve-1hicle'jbodyhaving an inclined windshield 2 The {cowl is-provided withventilating opening 3, which is arranged to; be closedbyggthe closure4."

ing-the ventilatingw opening 3 adjacent theinclined' windshield 2and'centrally-uof or inthe 10 :middle of the top portion of the cowl isexplained in- Figures 5 througlr8. ..This 'desirability arises fromltwofactors, the first of which is, as brought the windshield tends' tobuild'upain front ofita opening 3, .2as' i above explained, the openingis 'positionedin the highest pressure area and when the closure isopened: toward the windshield" it serves as'a bafile for, deflecting,the air currents moving forwardly from the windshield along the hasproved veryvsatisfactory in operation, the

' Q *andthe opening3 is positioned forwardly of the @windshield 2 sothat the rear transverse edge 5 of Zthe opening is approximately threeand one-half dimensions can be varied'but. the opening through berestricted when omen w; I

s a t Gle si ts h; D' fi i i l General .Motors-Corporation,

VIt is desirablethat; theventilating opening '5 ewhichl extendsllaterally of lthe' cowl should be 2 v be inclined upwardly from its front toits rear edge to present an opening to the rear or toward thewindshield. To this end baflle 6 has fixed thereto the hinge plate 8which is pivotally supported on the other hinge plate 9 by the pin ID.The plate 9 is fixed to theunderside of the trough H which extendsaround the periphery of the opening 3. An operating handle I2 is fixedto the hinge plate 8' in any suitable manner as by the bolts 3. Thehandle [2 in turn is associated with an adjuster i l pivoted as at IE toa bracket I6 secured to the under face of the cowl bar II. The adjusterl4 cooperates with the handle l2 to hold the closure 4 in its closed andseveral open positions.

The baflle 6 extends across the underside of the closure 4 from one sideof the opening 3 to the other. An arcuate screen It is fixed tothe underface of the closure 4 and extends downwardly beneath the cowl when theclosure'is in 'closed position.- The screen I8 is secured at each 'endto the end pieces I. An air stream deflector for spreading the inflowingstream of air inthe form of a curved plate [9 is secured along its r'earedge as at 2t to the bottom edge of the f screen 58; The plate 59 isprovided at each end of its rear edge with the straps 2| which are fixedto the lower edge of the bailie 6 as at 22. The curved baffle 89 beingfixed to the bottom edge of p the screen 58 also serves as a stiffenerand. thereby prevents the screen from rattling. The straps 2! are spacedand thus provide a small narrow opening 23 between the lower edge of thebafile 6 and the forward edge of the plate I9. The plate l9 extendslaterally from the center of the v opening 3 roughly half way to theends 1 thus leaving an opening 24 at each side. The width of the bafflei9 may be varied to in turn determine the desired size of the opening24. V W v In operation when the vehicle is in motion in relatively stillair the air tends to flowv downwardly from top toward the bottom of theinclined windshield 2, as indicated by the arrows Figure 1, and thenforwardly along the top of the cowl 5. When the closure 4 is swungupwardly to 5 any such open position as that shown in Figures 2 and 4,the forwardly flowing stream of air strikes the depending baffle 6 andalso I9 and part of the air'is deflected downwardly through the opening23 as indicated by the arrows. The 1 air which flows outwardly alongeach end of the baffle 6 and i9 passes outwardly and downwardly throughthe' openings 24 in two distinct streams of air, one of which strikesthe feet of the driver and the other the feet of the passenger. The airwhich is deflected downwardly by the baifle 6 between the ends of thedivider plate I9 strikes the upper face of the deflector plate l9 whereit piles up and spills over the sides of the deflector plate 59 and thendownwardly through the open- "ings 24." A small portion of the air isdeflected downwardly by the baffle 6 through the opening 23 to the footboard.

It is found that with this type of cowl ventilator assembly'that agreater volume of air for a given "size opening in the cowl is obtainedby swinging the closure about its rear edge so that it presents anopening to the inclined windshield in con-- junction with the dependingbafile for directing the forwardly flowing stream of air through theopening than is possible with the type of ventilator having the closureswingable along its rear edge. Further, with this type of streamdeflector of the stream of air'deflected through the two substantiallyequal part opening 3 is divided into streams, one on each side of thecenter of the vehicle and directed downwardly upon the feet of thepassenger as well as the driver.

I claim:

1. In an automotive vehicle body having a cowl and a windshieldpositioned along the rear edge of the cowl, a ventilating openingthrough the said cowl adjacent the lower edge of the Windshield, aclosure for the said -opening swingable about its forward edge toprovide an opening between its rear edge and the cowl, a baflledepending from the under face of the closure, and a second bafflepositioned within the body beneath the opening, the said second bafllebeing narrower than the said opening whereby part of the stream of airdeflected downwardly by the first baffle is split into two streams bythe second battle which pass into the body at each end of the secondbaiile.

2. In an automotive vehicle body having a cowl and an inclinedwindshield positioned along the rear edge of the cowl, a ventilatingopening through the said cowl adjacent the lower edge of the windshield,a closure for the said opening swingable about its forward edge toprovide an opening between its rear edge and the cowl, a

baffle depending from the under face of the closure, and a second bafllepositioned within the cowl beneath the opening in the cowl and extendingforwardly of the body from adjacent the rear edge of the opening in thecowl toward the i first mentioned depending baflle, the second bafflebeing ofless width than the opening in the cowl whereby part of thestream of air flowing through the opening anddeflected downwardly by thefirst mentioned bafile is split into two separate streams by the secondbaffle. a

3. In an automotive vehicle body having a'cowl and a windshieldpositioned along the rear edge of the cowl, a ventilating openingthrough the saidcowl adjacent the said windshield, a closure for thesaidopening swingable about its forward edge to present an opening tothe windshield, a baffle depending from the under face of the closureinto the vehicle body, a second baille extending rearwardly from thefirst baflle and po'si tioned-within the body beneath the opening in thecowl, the said second baflle being narrower'than the opening in the cowland swingable along with the depending baffle when the closure is swungto open and closed position whereby when the closure is open part of thestream of air deflected downwardly by the first baffle is split into twostreams by the second baifle which pass into the body at each end of thesecond bafile.

4. Inan automotive vehicle body having a cowl, 155

a windshield positioned along the rear edge of the cowl, a ventilatingopening through the said cowl adjacent the lower edge of the windshield,a closure for the said openingswing able about its front edge to providean opening between its rear edge and the cowl, a bafile fixed to theunder face of the closure and depending into the vehicle body, a secondbaflle fixed to the first baflle within the body beneath the opening inthe cowl and extending rearwardly from the depending baflle, the saidsecond bafiie being'narrower than the opening in the cowl and having itsrear edge positioned beneath the rear edge of the opening in the cowlwhereby when the closure is swung to open posii7 sition the first andsecond bafile swing with the closure so that the rear edge of the secondbaffle approaches the rear edge of the opening in the cowl and thestream of air flowing through the opening isdeflected downwardly by thefirst men- 375 separate streams by the second bafiie. i Y

5. In an automotive vehicle body having a cowl and a windshieldpositioned along the rear edge of the cowl, a ventilating openingthrough the said cowl adjacent the lower edge of the windshield,

a closure for the said opening swingableabout its forward edge toprovide an opening between its rear edge and the cowl, a baffledepending from the under face of the closure adjacent the front edge ofthe opening having closed ends extending along the sides of the openingin the cowl, a sec- 0nd bafiie positioned within the bodvbeneaththe'opening projecting rearwardly from the first baffie, the secondbaffie beingnarrower than the opening in the cowl and positioned betweenthe closed ends of the first baffle wherebyan opening is provided ateach side betweenthe second loaf fie and the closed ends of the firstbaffle so that part or the air deflected downwardly through the openingby theffirst bafiie is'split by the second baliie into two streamspassing through the open- 16 ings at each side of the second bafiie.

EMORY GLENN SIMPSON.

